AIDS
is a serious disease, which was discovered in 1981 in the U.S. among homosexual
men. The word AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome. It is an acquired infection as opposed to a genetic immune
deficiency
ffb
or autoimmune. A virus called human immuno-deficiency virus
(HIV) causes it. Once the virus is transmitted, it attacks the bodyís
immune system, which depends on the white blood cells. Once the immune
system is weakened, the body becomes susceptible to various opportunistic
infections, especially of the pulmonary and digestive systems, as well as
neuralgic lesions and some malignancies.

Means
of Transmission and Infection:

Transmission
happens from an infected to non-infected person by means of transmission of
bodily substances containing the virus. Mainly, this happens through blood,
plasma, semen, vaginal secretions, and to a lesser degree through saliva and
tears. It is characterized by being a weak virus, which can not resist
external factors, and can not penetrate intact human skin. Mosquitoes or
other insects do not carry it.

Transmission
and infection take place through one of the following ways:

1.
Contact with blood or bodily fluids from an infected person to a non-infected
person as in cases of blood transfusion, needle sticks, and using contaminated
needles. Also, if a non-infected person has cuts or abrasions in the skin
and comes in contact with infected blood or bodily fluids from an infected
person, then infection may result. However, if the non-infected personís
skin is intact, he can not contract the virus by casual contact with an infected
person.

2.
During sexual intercourse if one of the partners is infected. The virus
can be present in semen or vaginal secretions.

3.
Perinatally, i.e. from mother to fetus via the placenta. It is also
present in breast milk.

Because
the virus is too weak to resist external factors, it can not be transmitted by
casual contact of an infected personís belongings and is not air-borne, i.e.
not by being present in the same room and breathing the same air.

High Risk Groups:

High-risk
groups have been identified through clinical studies. They include
homosexual and bisexual men, IV drug users who share needles, heterosexual
individuals with multiple partners, prostitutes, recipients of transfused blood
or blood components, and babies born to infected mothers, as well as
hemophiliacs. 90% of patients are between the age of 20-49 and 94% are
among those of the high-risk group.

Symptoms
of the Disease:

Symptoms
may vary from one person to another depending on the reaction of the immune
system. However, we can divide those infected into two groups:

1.
Those who are carriers of the virus, yet have no clinical symptoms.
Incubation period maybe up to two years with some individuals, but almost all
HIV infected persons will eventually develop AIDS. Individuals, who are
carriers of the virus and do not display any signs or symptoms of the disease,
can still infect others.

2.
Those who are infected and manifest symptoms of the disease. These
symptoms may range from fever, malaise, and enlargement of the lymph nodes to
the more severe where there are opportunistic infections affecting the lungs,
intestines, brain, etc. There are generalized lymph node enlargement,
weight loss, intermittent fever, fatigue, chronic diarrhea, anemia, oral thrush
(a hairy tongue), severe decrease in the white blood cell count, seizures,
memory loss, etc.

This
is a very serious disease and will eventually lead to death. In the
meantime, the patient suffers physical pain caused by the infections and tumors,
which develop.

Diagnosis:

The
most specific diagnosis of HIV infection is by the isolation of HIV or the
antigen of the virus in the blood. The test for isolation of the virus is an
expensive, cumbersome, and not widely available procedure. The test, which
is more widely available and inexpensive, is the one detecting antibodies to HIV
revealed by a blood test. It is called an ELISA testing, and it is highly
sensitive and specific even with individuals who show no symptoms of the
disease.

There
are no complete recoveries from AIDS. It is a very serious disease, which
will lead to death in the end. Although patients may survive for years,
their quality of life is markedly compromised. They have to be on a wide
variety of medications, which have their own side effects. Many spend
their remaining lifetime hospitalized.

The
Moral Aspects of the Disease:

AIDS
is not just a medical problem; it is a social problem, which has deep moral
implications. The major means of spreading the disease and infection is a
deviant lifestyle. The great majority are homosexual and bisexual men,
promiscuous heterosexuals, and IV drug users. It is true that some of
those infected are innocent victims, e.g. babies born to infected mothers,
recipients of blood transfusions in which the blood is tainted, and health care
professionals who have accidental needle sticks. However, the scrutiny in
screening the blood and plasma donors has tremendously diminished and almost
eliminated contracting the disease through blood transfusions. Also, health care
workers routinely use universal precautions and barriers to prevent against
accidental needle sticks.

The
real challenge in facing the problem of AIDS is dealing with the widespread of
deviant lifestyles so prevalent in many societies. There is a false
concept about sexual freedom, including extra-marital sexual relationships
resulting in the dissolution of the family unit and affecting the husband, wife,
and children. There is widespread use of drugs including illicit drugs and
intravenous shooting of drugs, and the distorted understand of sex and sexual
pleasure. All of this makes AIDS a social problem and not merely a problem
of the Health Department. This gives the Church a special and crucial role
in confronting this modern age plague, which threatens humanity.

As a
Church, we need to address the problems, implications, and complications of the
disease: how it is spread, its seriousness and fatality, as well as how to
prevent it. Forefront in its prevention is spreading the religious morals
and principles, which call for a life of purity, chastity, holiness, and
rejection of all deviant lifestyles. For the unmarried, chastity through
abstinence must be emphasized and encouraged. It is the Christian morals
and principles of chastity, purity, and holiness, which constitute the most
important factors in fighting the spread AIDS and most importantly in preventing
it.